#FitBlogNYC is a conference hosted by Fitness Magazine that brings together bloggers, awesome brands and inspirational and influential speakers for a great day filled with fitness, learning and fun. The event was held at the Mercedes Club in Manhattan, just like last year.

We started off our rainy morning with checking in and grabbing breakfast before getting started with the seminars. Breakfast was fruit salad, vegan scones and muffins and juice from The Squeeze.

The seminars began with a welcome from Fitness Magazine’s Editor-in-chief, Betty Wong. The first speaker was Holly Rilinger, former WNBA player and fitness trainer.

She shared some tips for fitness success:

• Work out smarter – not longer. Maximize the time you have and it is possible to get a good workout in 20-30 minutes if you work hard, especially using HIIT.
• When you plan out your weekly schedule, plan your workouts like important events. You wouldn’t just skip a work meeting or interview, so why do you just skip workouts?
• Make a dreamboard. Put the things you want to achieve in front of your face to remember what you really want.
• Sleep is as important as your workout. If you are working out and not getting enough sleep, you might just be wasting your time.

Next up was Dr. Marci Goolsby, from the Hospital for Special Surgery in NYC. She spoke about how to stay healthy in the hardcore world of marathons, mus runs and crossfit.

• Don’t go to fast. Ease into new workout and don’t ignore aches and pains.
• Learn the different between good pain and bad pain. Soreness and DOMS are normal, but if the pain you are feeling is causing you to limp, impairing your workouts and lingers it might be an injury.
• Working out during pregnancy is great – it helps mommy and baby during delivery and recovery. If you already workout then continue, if you’re just starting, ease into the new exercises.

The final speaker before lunch was Carla Hall, host of the TV show The Chew. She was the speaker that I was most excited about hearing and she kept us all laughing and shared some great tips for following your dreams.

• You know you have found your passion when you have your ‘Aha moment’ – you are working so hard but you don’t care because you are doing what you love.
• When trying to turn your passion into your career, work with people who are already doing it. See if you actually want to do it, don’t just quit your day job and hope for the best.
• When it comes to cooking, don’t over think technique. Use spices to add variety to your meals. You can make chicken 15 different ways by using different blends of spices.
• Her cooking philosophy is to cook with love. If you’re not in a good mood, the only thing you should be making is a reservation.

After hearing all the amazing speakers, we had some time to grab lunch and meet with all the different sponsors. The sponsors included Balance Bar, Dermalogica, Eddie Bauer, Hoka One One, Luna, Oster Versa, Pure Protein, Tonalin and Tria. We got to try some delicious green smoothies and protein shakes, practice our planks with Tonalin, get awesome shoes and tops from Hoka One One and Eddie Bauer and get some skincare advice from Dermologica and Tria.

Next, we headed for lunch, which consisted of two delicious salads, a huge spread on roasted veggies, grilled chicken and apple crisp cups. It was all soo good!

After lunch, we headed back for the last panel – My Digital Brand is My Business by Laura Sykora, Anne Mauney and Bianca Jade.

Their biggest message was to be authentic. Very often, bloggers lose their voice when trying to monetize and make money off their blog. Be yourself, work with other bloggers, not against them.

After the panels were over, there was a run with Hoke One One, but I had to leave early because I had to pick up the little man. Instead I headed to the exit and picked up my goodie bag. All of the sponsors were ridiculously generous and we all left with bags filled to the brim with goodies. A huge, huge thank you to all the sponsors!

I had an amazing time catching up with blogger friends and learning from some amazing women. I can’t wait until next year!

The post Fitness Blogger Meet and Tweet: #FitBlogNYC 2014 appeared first on Frolic Through Life.

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know that I love myself an obstacle race. When I was given a chance to take a workout class with J2Fit at the new Reebok FitHub USQ I was ecstatic and even woke up at 5:30 AM to get my booty there.

If a killer workout wasn’t incentive enough to get out of bed early, Reebok made it that much more enjoyable by providing me some with some great gear to workout in.

I got the Reebok ONE Series Running Bra, the Reebok ONE Series Running Graphic Tee, the Reebok ONE Series 3 Inch Woven Short and the  Reebok ZQuick Electrify. As much as I like all the gear, my fav are the ZQuicks and they are quickly becoming my favorite running shoe. I’ve worn them on two runs after the workout and they are very comfortable and have a great fit. There is a lot of science behind this shoe and they are actually inspired by Z-Rated tires. The shoe’s unique geometry and midsole foam delivers sports car handling for your feet, while the evolved NanoWeb upper technology makes sure you’re buckled up tight for a breathable and breathtaking ride. So basically they’re like strapping sports cars to your feet.

The workout was lead by Reebok Ambassadors J2Fit. They are a team of personal trainers that specialize in strength and conditioning training. Their trainings can increase strength, lean mass, power and can even prepare you for athletic competitions and obstacle races like the Spartan Race, Civilian Military Combine and Tough Mudders. It was really cool speaking to the trainers to hear about the different trainings they offer. One of the trainers told me he just finished his Certified Spartan Coaching while another talked about being on the USA Kettlebell Team.

To start off our workout, we did some active stretching including lunges and plank variations. After that we were split into groups of three to prepare for the first workout. The workout consisted of three stations and each station was done for 15 reps then immediately followed by the next station until we finished four round of all three stations.

The first station was push-ups. If push-ups were too easy, you did weighted push-up and if too difficult, knee push-ups were allowed. The next station was plank rows. Again there were variations to make the workout work no matter your fitness level and finally there were kettlebell squats. My arms were killing me going into the final set and you can see me (not so gracefully) struggling to get through my pushups here.

The last workout was a follow the leader style workout where the first person had to finish their first station before the second could start. It consisted of 40 mountain climbers, 30 jump squats, 20 ball slams and 10 burpees followed by a run through Union Square where we did 15 kettlebell swings and ran back to the store to finish. After a quick cool down and some group photos, I was on my way home, sweaty, tired and happy to be finished with my workout by 8 AM.

The Union Square Fithub offers a ton of really cool FREE fitness classes. You can check out the schedule to sign up to try something new. They have everything from yoga to Les Mills to Crossfit, definitely something for everyone. You can also take classes at the other 4 fithub locations in Westchester, Garden State, Upper East and 5th Ave.

I can’t wait to go back for more!

Have you ever attended a Reebok FitHub class? How badly do you want a pair of the ZQuicks?

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if you can survive one of these, you can most likely survive anything!

The race was a 4 mile Spartan Sprint that took place in Tuxedo, NY.

It is difficult to recap the race because I honestly cannot remember most of it. I don’t know if it was the adrenaline of being in the moment and trying to push through the events or what, but there are simply parts that I don’t recall. I couldn’t tell you what all my obstacles were and I couldn’t tell you how much time it took us (we finished in 2:50:36, but at the time we had no clue if two hours of

ten hours had passed.) I can tell you that a Spartan is a life changing type of race. Their slogan is when you cross the finish line you’ll know, and it is true. When Mikey and I crossed the finished line we were ecstatic.

The day after the race, I sat down to film a video about my experience, so I wouldn’t forget all of the things I wanted to share. If you want to see why you need to run a Spartan Race, watch away!

And last, but not least, some pictures from the race itself. Whenever we came down the mountain to do obstacles, Tommy was there to catch the good, the bad and the burpees!

So long story short, I am hooked on Spartan! My next Spartan is one month, July 14th, Blue Mountain , Pennsylvania. I’m counting down the days!

Have you even done a Spartan Race? Have I convinced you to do one?!

I received free entry to the race and training gear from Reebok. All opinions are my own!

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What do these two events have in common? I am pushing my boundaries. I am doing things that I thought were impossible for me to do, and guess what? They are possible. A few weeks ago I received an email telling me that I had been chosen by Reebok and Fitfluential to be a part of Team Fitfluetial in the upcoming Spartan Race in Tuxedo, New York.

My reaction? Breathe in, breathe out..holy crap, this is so exciting! Breathe in, breathe out..holy crap, I haven’t run in months!

So what’s a girl to do? Lace up her sneakers – her new and very blue Reebok Sublite Duos and push her boundaries.

I ran a three mile loop, and by ran I mean ran quickly and almost effortlessly down the hill and struggles and walked for parts back. In the end, I felt tired but refreshed and I knew that I could do this. I feel that Crossfit is preparing me for the obstacle portion of the race and I am planning on staying after this Friday to try to master the rope climb. Now the only thing I need to do is practice my burpees because I have a feeling I will be doing a whole lot of those in the near future! While the Spartan Race isn’t your typical “mud run” I am feeling confident. I feel like I will be able to get through it, but I know that it will be a challenge. Life is about pushing your boundaries and mastering challenges and the Spartan Race is no different.

Have you ever done an obstacle course race?

Reebok has provided me with training gear and entry into the Spartan Race. All opinions are my own.

The post I’m Doing the Spartan Race! appeared first on Frolic Through Life.

My morning started off with a press conference to kick off Reebok’s new partnership with the Spartan Race with some fellow Fitfluential Ambassadors – Christine, Noelle, Ashley, Ava, Megan, Alfonso, Andre, Meghan

I’ve heard a lot about different obstacle/mud runs in the last few months, but the Spartan Race really blows all of the other races out of the water. The Spartan Race really tests your fitness and if you aren’t able to complete an obstacle, the penalty is 30 burpees…yikes! The Spartan Race has grown exponentially, starting with 1,500 participants in its first year up in Vermont, to over 1.5 million people competing in 60 events worldwide in 2012. Not too shabby for an event that the creators were told that no one would show up to!

This new partnership between Reebok and the Spartan Race will allow for the race to expand even further. The creators of the race have an Olympic dream and want obstacle course racing to be an event in the Olympic games. Something that I would totally watch! Through this partnership, the Spartan Race hopes to bring obstacle racing to new markets around the world and expose people who would otherwise never know that these types of races exist. Reebok is also creating a new line of Spartan Race gear including clothes and shoes, which I am very excited to see! The Spartan Race is also 80% done with building a training course in Vermont, just six miles outside of Killington. I know that I will be visiting this once it opens!

The real fun began when we headed outdoors. There was a 10 obstacle course set up in the heart of Times Square, which was a preview of  the real thing which is taking place in Citi Field in April. The course was not easy! I was hesitant at first, and did not want to roll through the mud, but I figured that I had a change of clothes and when would I ever have the chance to roll in the mud in the middle of Times Square, right?

Another amazing thing about the Spartan Race is the sense of community. It really reminded me of Crossfit. I knew I wouldn’t be able to climb the rope, and was ready to give up and do the burpees when two people on the course ran over and propped me up. I rang the bell on top of the rope and felt so proud! Everyone who completed the course got sent home with some bling, which I proudly wore!

I was honored to be able to compete alongside incredible athletes and amazing people, like the wounded veterans who compete with Team Extreme. Seeing Todd Love, a triple amputee, climb the rope on his own, threw every excuse in the book out the window.

I cannot wait to complete the real thing in April in Citi Field, but until then I need to train or else my butt with be doing way too many burpees!

P.S. My feet made the official Reebok Spartan Race video..check out my fresh new kicks!

Have you ever done an obstacle run?

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The seminar was hosted by Katie from Paleo Pioneer and a registered dietician. The seminar lasted a little over an hour, but was incredibly informative and taught me about how the American diet has changed, how gluten was molecularly engineered in the 1960s and is slowly effecting all of us, and how the paleo lifestyle is a diet from a time before the diseases that are killing Americans were ever a problem.

The seminar started with some info about how the American diet has changed since the times of our grandparents. After the Great Depression, processed foods became abundant because people did not want to ever fall back to a time when there were widespread food shortages. With their long shelf lives, low prices and ease of cooking, processed foods became the norms in the 70s and 80s. Incidentally, this was also the same time that gluten, the protein found in wheat, was molecularly engineered and obesity, diabetes, autoimmune diseases and cancer rates began to skyrocket.

So what is paleo? Paleo is the diet that our ancestors followed before the luxuries of modern farming, mass produced “health foods and pop tarts. The paleo diet turns the modern food pyramid on its head and completely eliminates grains, dairy and highly processed foods. Instead we are to get our nutrition from meat, fruits, veggies, healthy fats and nuts.

Although the diet may seem extreme at first, with some prep, planning and substitutions, you will never miss the processed foods that you were once so dependent upon. We went through some ideas on how to sub different foods, meals and snacks with paleo friendly items. We also discussed the cost of going paleo. Some people claim that paying extra for quality cuts of grass-fed beef with make your budget go out the window, if you offset the costs of not purchasing prepackaged, processed foods, the dent in your budget is not that noticeable. Especially if you take into account the fact that you won’t be eating out as much!

After the seminar, we were treated to some paleo goodies, which you would never be allowed on a “diet.” We indulged in paleo brownies, cookies and fudge, and trust me, you could not taste the difference!

Overall, the seminar gave me a great deal to think about regarding my diet, and the diet and lifestyle of my family. Tommy and I have been discussing and weighing the benefits of it, and we have decided to start taking steps to going paleo!

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